Wanda+Szidzewicz


 * SUMMARY: Wanda Szidzewicz, age 23, died on February 26, 1924 from complications of an abortion perpetrated by midwife Ida Cantor in Worchester County, Massachusetts. **

In Templeton, Worchester County, Massachusetts, on February 6, 1924, Ida Cantor performed an abortion on 23-year-old homemaker Wanda Remant Szidzewicz. Wanda, an immigrant from Poland, developed septicemia after the abortion, and went to a Massachusetts hospital on February 11. She was treated there until her death on February 26.

Testimony at Ida's trial indicated that Ida's profession was midwife, since she delivered at least one baby that Dr. Sawyer and Ida's own husband testified to.

The jury found that Ida used improperly sterilized or non-sterile instruments in the abortion. A key part of the prosecution's case was a deathbed statement by the injured woman. The medical examiner found "no evidence of violence outside or in", but did find evidence that instruments had been used to perform an abortion. He also testified that Wanda had said that Ida Cantor had performed the abortion in question. A Dr. Sawyer testified that he'd told Wanda that she was dying, testimony intended to add credibility to her deathbed statement.

A doctor from the hospital, however, testified that the death and expulsion of the fetus, along with Wanda's injuries, might have been brought about with "an accidental abortion", such as that caused by lifting a heavy box. Hospital records stated that Wanda had lifted a heavy box at some point, "four days before".

Ida's attorney's launched a scattershot and ineffectual defense. Part of it was putting forth Ida's assertion that she she'd had to ask the police why she was being arrested -- she claimed that this proved that she'd not known anything abut Wanda's abortion or death. Her lawyer asked an expert witness if the "constant jarring operation of a sewing machine" could have caused Wanda to miscarry, but never introduced any evidence that Wanda had operated a sewing machine. The defense had tried to place Ida's grandchild's birth certificate into evidence as proof that she'd been at the child's birthday party in New York at the time of the abortion and thus couldn't have performed it. Ida's husband's testimony did nothing to aid her; in fact, it contradicted her.

After her conviction, Ida appealed, but her conviction was upheld. Wanda's widower, Waclaw, also successfully sued Ida.

For more on pre-legalization abortion, see [|The Bad Old Days of Abortion]

 Sources:
 * 257 Mass. 518, 154 N.E. 251, 49 A.L.R. 958;
 * Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Worcester. Szadiwicz v. Cantor Nov. 24, 1926;
 * Exceptions from Superior Court, Worcester County; E. B. Bishop, Judge;
 * Action of tort by Waclaw Szadiwicz, administrator, against Ida Cantor for the death and conscious suffering of plaintiff's decedent; 253 Mass. 509, 149 N.E. 205)253 Mass. 509, 149 N.E. 205;
 * Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Worcester. COMMONWEALTH v. CANTOR. Oct. 21, 1925.
 * Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988



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